Requesting Police Certificates from Mexico

This Operational Bulletin (OB) instructs officers on the new procedures they would to follow when they request for police certificates. They would typically request these police certificates from applicants, who:

Have lived in Mexico for:

Six consecutive months or longer since,

The applicants reached the age of 18 years

Background

At present, applicants need to provide certain certificates. Typically, these applicants would need to provide:

A Federal certificate from the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) and,

State-issued police certificates from each state in which they have resided for at least six consecutive months, since turning 18 years of age

However, applicants have been encountering various difficulties, when it comes to obtaining state certificates. As a result, many applicants have found it increasingly difficult to obtain state certificates. In addition, very few of these state certificates have actually indicated any positive criminality results.

The Instructions

The authorities have therefore, decided that applicants would no longer need to request for individual state-issued police certificates. This becomes applicable with immediate effect.

Offices that process permanent and temporary residence applications would now need to request applicants to provide both the following certificates:

The Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) certificate and,

The Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SPP) certificate

However, they would only ask applicants to obtain these certificates if the applicants have:

Lived for six consecutive months or longer in Mexico since they turned 18 years of age

Typically, applicants find it easier to obtain the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SPP) certificate. The Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SPP) certificate also includes a search for law infractions from state databases.

Applicants might need to obtain further instructions. For example, they might require additional guidance on the way in which they could obtain police certificates from the Mexican police authorities. They would be able to find these instructions on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.